Erich Fried
Erich Fried (6 May 1921 – 22 November 1988) was an Austrian-born poet, writer, and translator. He initially became known to a broader public in both Germany and Austria for his political poetry, and later for his love poems. As a writer, he mostly wrote plays and short novels. He also translated works by different English writers from English into German, most notably works by William Shakespeare.
He was born in Vienna, Austria, but fled to England after the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938. He settled in London and adopted British nationality in 1949. His first official visit back to Vienna was in 1962.
Biography
Born to Jewish parents Nelly and Hugo Fried in Vienna, he was a child actor and from an early age wrote political essays and poetry. He fled to London after his father was murdered by the Gestapo after the Anschluss (i.e. annexation of Austria) by Nazi Germany.
During World War II, he did casual work as a librarian and a factory hand. He arranged also for his mother to leave Nazi-occupied Austria, as well as helping many other Jews to come to the UK. He joined Young Austria, a left-wing emigrant youth movement, but left in 1943 in protest of its growing Stalinist tendencies. In 1944, he married Maria Marburg, shortly before the birth of his son Hans. During the same year, his first volume of poetry was published. He separated from Maria in 1946.
Fried's German translation of Masefield's Good Friday was broadcast on the BBC German Service in 1951.[1] He divorced Maria in 1952. In the same year, he married Nan Spence Eichner, with whom he had two children; David (born 1958) and Katherine (born 1961). From 1952 to 1968, he worked as a political commentator for the BBC German Service. In his annual review for 1961, Lindley Fraser wrote of him that 'Mr.Fried's contribution to the Soviet Zone programme is probably the most valuable single one we have'.[2] He translated works by Shakespeare, T. S. Eliot, and Dylan Thomas. In 1962, he returned to Vienna for the first time. Erich and Nan divorced in 1965. In 1965, he married for a third time, wedding Catherine Boswell with whom he had three children; Petra (born 1965), Klaus, and Thomas (born 1969).
He published several volumes of poetry as well as radio plays and a novel. His work was sometimes controversial, including attacks on the Zionist movement and support for left-wing causes. His work was mainly published in the West, but in 1969, a selection of his poetry was published in the GDR poetry series Poesiealbum, and his Dylan Thomas translations were published in that same series in 1974. The composer Hans Werner Henze set two of Fried's poems for his song-cycle Voices (1973).
In 1982, he regained his Austrian nationality, though he also retained the British nationality he had adopted in 1949. He died of intestinal cancer in Baden-Baden, West Germany, in 1988 and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
An Austrian literary prize is named in his honour, more specifically the Erich Fried Prize.
Works
- Drei Gebete aus London (Three Prayers from London), 1945
- Ein Soldat und ein Mädchen (A Soldier and a Girl), 1960
- Reich der Steine, 1963
- Warngedichte (Warning Poems), 1964
- Überlegungen, 1964
- Kinder und Narren, 1965
- und Vietnam und (and Vietnam and), 1966
- Anfechtungen, 1967
- Die Beine der größeren Lügen, 1969
- Poesiealbum, 1969
- Unter Nebenfeinden, 1970
- Die Freiheit den Mund aufzumachen, 1972
- Höre Israel, 1974
- So kam ich unter die Deutschen, 1977
- 100 Gedichte ohne Vaterland, 1978
- Liebesgedichte (Love Poems), 1979
- Es ist was es ist (It is what it is), 1983
- Um Klarheit, 1985
- Mitunter sogar Lachen, 1986
Translations of Erich Fried's Works into English
Source:[3]
- Arden Must Die: An Opera on the Death of the Wealthy Arden of Faversham. (Original title: Arden muss sterben). Translated by Geoffrey Skelton. London: Schott 1967; New York: Associated Music Publishers 1967
- Last Honours. A selection of poems translated by Georg Rapp. London: Turret 1968
- On Pain of Seeing. A selection of poems translated by Georg Rapp. London: Rapp and Whiting 1969; Chicago: Swallow Press 1969
- 100 Poems Without a Country (identical in most parts with the original 100 Gedichte ohne Vaterland). Translated by Stuart Hood and Georg Rapp. London: John Calder 1978; New York: Red Dust 1980
- Love Poems. Bilingual edition. A selection of poems from Liebesgedichte (1979) and Es ist was es ist (1983), translated by Stuart Hood. London: Calder Publication Limited Riverrun Press 1991. New, revised edition Alma Classics Ltd, 2011
- Children and Fools. A selection of 34 stories translated by Martin Chalmers. London: Serpent's Tail 1993
There are as well translations of single poems in different anthologies.
References
- ^ Elrick, Manya (2013). "'Moglichst nah am Original.' Erich Fried, Poet, Translator and Would-Be Performer". In Brinson, Charmian; Dove, Richard (eds.). German-Speaking Exiles in the Performing Arts in Britain after 1933. Rodopi. p. 110. ISBN 978-94-012-0919-9.
- ^ Oliver 2019, p. 573.
- ^ Bibliography of Erich Fried's Works (German), pp. 100–107
Sources
- Oliver, Emily (3 July 2019). "A Voice for East Germany: Developing the BBC German Service's East Zone Programme". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 39 (3): 568–583. doi:10.1080/01439685.2019.1643111.
External links
- Quotations related to Erich Fried at Wikiquote
- Media related to Erich Fried at Wikimedia Commons
- v
- t
- e
- 1923 Adam Karrillon and Arnold Mendelssohn
- 1924 Alfred Bock and Paul Thesing
- 1925 Wilhelm Michel and Rudolf Koch
- 1926 Christian Heinrich Kleukens and Wilhelm Petersen
- 1927 Kasimir Edschmid and Johannes Bischoff
- 1928 Richard Hoelscher and Well Habicht
- 1929 Carl Zuckmayer and Adam Antes
- 1930 Nikolaus Schwarzkopf and Johannes Lippmann
- 1931 Alexander Posch and Hans Simon
- 1932 Albert H. Rausch and Adolf Bode
- 1933–1944 not given
- 1945 Hans Schiebelhuth
- 1946 Fritz Usinger
- 1947 Anna Seghers
- 1948 Hermann Heiss
- 1949 Carl Gunschmann
- 1950 Elisabeth Langgässer
- 1951 Gottfried Benn
- 1952 not given
- 1953 Ernst Kreuder
- 1954 Martin Kessel
- 1955 Marie Luise Kaschnitz
- 1956 Karl Krolow
- 1957 Erich Kästner
- 1958 Max Frisch
- 1959 Günter Eich
- 1960 Paul Celan
- 1961 Hans Erich Nossack
- 1962 Wolfgang Koeppen
- 1963 Hans Magnus Enzensberger
- 1964 Ingeborg Bachmann
- 1965 Günter Grass
- 1966 Wolfgang Hildesheimer
- 1967 Heinrich Böll
- 1968 Golo Mann
- 1969 Helmut Heißenbüttel
- 1970 Thomas Bernhard
- 1971 Uwe Johnson
- 1972 Elias Canetti
- 1973 Peter Handke
- 1974 Hermann Kesten
- 1975 Manès Sperber
- 1976 Heinz Piontek
- 1977 Reiner Kunze
- 1978 Hermann Lenz
- 1979 Ernst Meister
- 1980 Christa Wolf
- 1981 Martin Walser
- 1982 Peter Weiss
- 1983 Wolfdietrich Schnurre
- 1984 Ernst Jandl
- 1985 Heiner Müller
- 1986 Friedrich Dürrenmatt
- 1987 Erich Fried
- 1988 Albert Drach
- 1989 Botho Strauß
- 1990 Tankred Dorst
- 1991 Wolf Biermann
- 1992 George Tabori
- 1993 Peter Rühmkorf
- 1994 Adolf Muschg
- 1995 Durs Grünbein
- 1996 Sarah Kirsch
- 1997 H. C. Artmann
- 1998 Elfriede Jelinek
- 1999 Arnold Stadler
- 2000 Volker Braun
- 2001 Friederike Mayröcker
- 2002 Wolfgang Hilbig
- 2003 Alexander Kluge
- 2004 Wilhelm Genazino
- 2005 Brigitte Kronauer
- 2006 Oskar Pastior
- 2007 Martin Mosebach
- 2008 Josef Winkler
- 2009 Walter Kappacher
- 2010 Reinhard Jirgl
- 2011 Friedrich Christian Delius
- 2012 Felicitas Hoppe
- 2013 Sibylle Lewitscharoff
- 2014 Jürgen Becker
- 2015 Rainald Goetz
- 2016 Marcel Beyer
- 2017 Jan Wagner
- 2018 Terézia Mora
- 2019 Lukas Bärfuss
- 2020 Elke Erb
- 2021 Clemens J. Setz
- 2022 Emine Sevgi Özdamar
- 2023: Lutz Seiler